After a much needed long sleep we surfaced from our apartment at about 3pm, still very physically tired from the travel and emotionally tired from the lost luggage dramas. From the time we arose in Maiden Gully to the time we got to lie down in Berlin we had spent just shy of 48hrs traveling. It's all a great experience but tiring nonetheless.
A coffee in the bar of the accommodation house was the first order of the day. Next we headed towards Alexanderplatz which was no more that an easy 20 minute walk away. It's Sunday so many families are out and about. We spent some time sitting at the fountain watching the world go by and then continued to wander around the area, grabbing a light bite to eat in the station. Searching for tourist information bureau we found a small one in the nearby Park Land hotel, picked up a Berlin map (the Spanish one, Doh!) and then asked about the Berlin sightseeing buses we'd seen trundling past all afternoon. The girl who sold us the Spanish map didn't want to give too much away about the bus services so we went and spoke directly with a very helpful bus driver instead.
The architecture in this part of Berlin is very "Socialist". Not surprising really when you consider the city was flattened by the Allies at the end of WWII and there were millions of people looking for a home. No time or money to waste building attractive buildings. Indeed there are many abandoned buildings that might have been torn down along with the Wall in the eighties but they still remain, perhaps as monuments to the bad old days of Soviet rule. I can only imagine Berlin was a much nicer city before 1945.
From there we strolled back by a different route to out apartment, had a drink under the awning out the front while watching the rain come down and the people go by (Kerry was wrapped up in one of the bar-provided blankets as it was cooling down a bit), strolled back to Rosentalerplaz, had a kebab and beer and then came back home and crashed out like light again.
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